Tahir Merchant, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and death row convict in 1993 serial blasts case, who was in Yerawada Central Prison in Pune, died in the early hours of Wednesday due to a suspected cardiac arrest. Merchant (63), who was known to have arranged the logistics for the 12 blasts on March 12, 1993 that killed 257 persons and left 718 injured, was lodged at the high security Yerwada prison since last few months. He was known by his alias Tahir Taklya. Additional director general (Prisons) Bhushankumar Upadhyay confirmed that Merchant died in the early hours of Wednesday. Read | 1993 Mumbai serial blasts verdict timeline: Here’s what all has happened in the case A Yerwada prison official said, "He complained of chest pain around 3 am and was taken to the Sassoon general hospital. he was declared dead at 3.45 am. The death is suspected to be due to a heart attack. A post mortem and inquiry by police will be conducted to ascertain the cause of death, as the procedure is, for any death in custody or prison." The family members of Merchant have been informed by the jail officials.
